The lightning-caused fire has burned over 32,000 acres eight miles northwest of Wheatland, Wyoming
Continue readingPhotos of P-3 Orion air tankers at McClellan
Also: A DC-10 and Coulson’s most recently converted C-130
Continue readingNorth American air tankers return from Australia
Four large air tankers have completed their assignments
Continue readingCAL FIRE considering acquiring larger air tankers
The agency is looking at a range of alternatives, including the C-130, but no decisions have been made
Continue readingVideo of multiple air tankers working the Liberty Fire near Murrieta, CA
Above: The Liberty Fire east of Murrieta, California, December 7, 2017. Screengrab from the KTLA video.
(Originally published at 7 p.m. PST December 7, 2017)
KTLA shot some excellent stabilized video from a helicopter Thursday of the Liberty Fire that has burned about 300 acres northeast of Murrieta, California. This is a new fire that erupted this afternoon 17 miles north of another new fire, the Lilac Fire south of Temecula which was 3,000 acres at 7 p.m. PST.
The video, which is almost 2 hours long, has at least 8 shots of air tankers dropping. We skimmed through it quickly and noted where the drops occur, probably missing a few.
13:00 – DC-10
17:00 – BAe-146/C-130
35:30 – C-130
38:35 – BAe-146
49:15 – S-2
1:05:00 – MAFFS
1:30:00 – 747
1:40:20 – MAFFS
Firefighting aircraft migrate south of the equator
Four large North American air tankers will be in Australia during their 2017-2018 summer.
Continue readingThe DC-10 is back in Australia
As the down-under summer begins, the Aussies welcome the DC-10 and the C-130 back for the bushfire season.
A C-130 air tanker appears over a fire
Earlier today we posted a video on Wildfire Today that seemingly shows flames appearing out of nowhere, almost like magic. Well, check out this video of a C-130 air tanker shot by Tim Boyd August 22, 2017 on the Range Fire in Alameda County, California.
And here’s a bonus video also shot by Tom Boyd — an Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87 extending the retardant line on the same fire.
Coulson signs agreement with Argentina for analysis of firefighting aircraft
Coulson’s three C-130 air tankers.(Updated at 3:05 p.m. MDT June 20, 2017)
Coulson Aviation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Argentina that will enable the country “to analyse and, eventually, develop as a whole, an air combat division” for suppressing wildfires.
The Secretary for Logistics and Military Coordination for Emergencies, Walter Ceballos, made the announcement on his Facebook page on June 15.
In the photos above, Wayne Coulson, the CEO and President of Coulson Aviation, is wearing a white shirt and a light blue tie. Mr. Ceballos is next to him in the brown suit.
Google’s automatic translation of the text in the above post:
I am grateful to the CANADA CCC programme which allowed the ministry of defence to be linked to Coulson Aviation, a specialized company and certified in air fire operations. We signed a memorandum of understanding to analyse and, eventually, develop as a whole, an air combat division, with the FAA’s hr and operational operations to serve the national plan to fight fire.
We checked with Britt Coulson, Vice President of Aviation, who explained that the company “is in the final stages of negotiations with Argentina to [provide] a turnkey fleet of command and control, fixed wing, and rotary wing assets” as well as a full training program. If the agreement is consummated, the aircraft would be on contract, owned and operated by Coulson.
Mr. Ceballos is also interested in the Russian-made amphibious Be-200 air tanker and has pinned the following at the top of his Twitter account:
Visita a Beriev para evaluar B200 (Avión Anfibio Multirol) https://t.co/tG8YhA3bug https://t.co/WR5cdkRMCk
— Walter A Ceballos (@waceballos) April 26, 2017
Twitter’s automatic translation of the above text:
Visit to Beriev to evaluate B200 (Multiflight Amphibious Plane).
In addition to having three operational C-130-type air tankers and a fourth one on the way, Coulson has purchased six 737-300’s from Southwest Airlines and intends to convert at least some of them into air tankers. One has been painted and has started the conversion process.
One of Coulson’s 737’s — the first one to be painted and to start the air tanker conversion process.The future Tanker 134 on the move
These are photos of an air tanker that you don’t see every day. The C-130Q that Coulson recently acquired, was being moved from Tucson to another facility in Mesa, Arizona where it will be transformed into Coulson’s fourth C-130 air tanker, Tanker #134. Obviously it needs a little work.
It is the second C-130Q that they have acquired. The first was Tanker 131 that entered service about four years ago. The company also has two L-382G’s, which is the civilian version of the C-130.
Britt Coulson, who sent us these pictures, said they expect to have the conversion complete by the end of this summer.
The photo below shows the aircraft before it was dismantled.
Coulson’s C-130Q which will become Tanker 134 later this year.